I’m just wondering how many of you guys actually do this. I’ve never done it at any point, and I’m wondering if it would help with recovery at all…
Never stretch before, nor during, always stretch the target muscle after. Stretches the fascia and takes waste products from the muscle.
Ow and if your going to train the biceps, stretch the tris (stretch the antagonist)
I won’t stretch the muscle I am working before or during (for rehashed reasons) but I absolutely need to stretch my chest and anterior delts before doing oly lifting. This is mostly dynamic stuff like dislocates with a broomstick, arm circles, etc.
Also, squats hurt a lot less and I seem to finish better when I stretch my hip flexors first. It’s not a problem with reciprical inhibition with my glutes, I just have tight hip flexors. I think if something is holding you back because it is too tight, then stretch it.
As for after training, studies have shown that training groups that stretched PWO showed better strength increases than those that didn’t. The flip side is that there are those that believe that adding stretching after a workout is just adding more stress in a time when you should be relaxing. I personally am too wiped to stretch after training and need “sit on my ass and eat” time.
I stretch for about 5 minutes or so after training and only the trained muscles for that day.
I also agree with player about stretching the antagonist muscle. I never believed in that until I trained chest/back together and noticed a difference.
DG
[quote]Player wrote:
takes waste products from the muscle. [/quote]
O’RLY?
You should slap whoever told you that one, unless you came up with it yourself. If that’s the case, slap yourself.
I’ll do some static stretches for my hip flexors, piriformis(es?), and rotator cuff during my warmup, because all of those are chronically tight. During the session I’ll stretch sometimes, but usually do activation/dynamic movements instead. I may stretch later on when at home, but usually don’t.
I stretch before, during almost every time and most days a little afterwards too. It does not help with recovery at all-food does, and rest- but it helps with flexibility and I like doing it during since I cramp sometimes so try to avoid that.
Plus stretching afterwards is good way to relax after hard workout.
NEVER DO STATIC STRETCHES BEFORE LIFTING!!! Bad mistake. Various coaches believe that after you stretch a pumped you are able to expand the fascia, allowing for more growth… I can’t tell that for sure…
[quote]Player wrote:
NEVER DO STATIC STRETCHES BEFORE LIFTING!!! Bad mistake. Various coaches believe that after you stretch a pumped you are able to expand the fascia, allowing for more growth… I can’t tell that for sure… [/quote]
Dynamic stretches are optimal, but like its not going to kill you to do static before.
The don’t stretch before you lift stuff is an internet fad and fallacy, Player. It’s perfectly fine to stretch before lifting.
I’m also convinced static and dynamic stretching are both the same. My argument:
If I don’t stretch my ankles before squatting, my heels come off the ground a little. If I “dynamic stretch” them, they stay firm on the ground. If I “static stretch”, they still stay firm on the ground. If they both give me the ankle mobility to complete the lift healthily, how are they different?
Not doing any type of stretching before hand is foolish imo, I’m never not sore so I’m usually stiff when I go to the gym so I have to stretch to loosen up. It has never affected me, and has helped prevent injuries.
I’ll sometimes do some dynamic stretches prior to lifting. But just going through a full ROM during my warm-up sets is usually enough.
However, I always, always stretch a muscle after I am done working it (either immediately afterwards, as I am currently doing, or at the end of the workout). At that point, the muscle is fully warmed-up (full of blood, warm) and is partially fatigued (so it won’t resist the stretch as much), making it an ideal time to stretch it.
Leg day, I strech, to loosen up hip flexors and hams. Do some bodyweight squats and some basic ham stretches. I got bad shoulders too and don’t want to injure my rotator cuff, so I do some LIGHT band rotator work. Other than that I dont stretch before hand.
After, I try to stretch everything, esp on back, arms, and leg day. When doing calf work, I stretch IMMEDIATELY after the set. Do static stretching for 30 secs. Feel this helps my growth
Thib always says it furthur damages the muscle and prolonges recovery to do static stretching post workout. I use Eric Cressey’s dynamic mobility warm up before I train
I stretch my legs constantly. I dislocated my left shoulder pretty badly a few times, so I don’t stretch the side before bench pressing but I do stretch the right. I find being warmed up, and loose I perform better on my lifts.
[quote]crod266 wrote:
thib always says it furthur damages the muscle and prolonges recovery to do static stretching post workout. I use eric cresseys dynamic mobility warm up before I train[/quote]
Really? I didn’t no that, does he say why?
I warm up and stretch a bit before (mostly dynamic stuff). I should probably stretch more afterward or on off days as I seem to be tightening up a bit lately.
Slightly off topic but, I’m not training a guy who is quite overweight and a complete noob. He had horrible flexibility issues before I started forcing him to warm up and stretch (dynamic and static) before lifting. Since then his flexibility and ROM has greatly improved on squats, and especially on deadlifts. Amazingly so actually. It was almost like flipping on a light switch, night and day difference.
[quote]Player wrote:
crod266 wrote:
Thib always says it furthur damages the muscle and prolonges recovery to do static stretching post workout. I use Eric Cressey’s dynamic mobility warm up before I train
Really? I didn’t no that, does he say why?
[/quote]
No but hes said ti a couple times, he quote and old french guy I think but yes it does make it clear that once the muscle is damaged from working out it damages it more by stretching it and therefore makes recovery time longer. He only advocates mobility drills as warm ups or cool down or wat ever
I’m not a big fan of stretching just for the sake of stretching. There needs to be a purpose behind stretching and a lot of times, people will stretch when they don’t need to. If there is a bi-lateral muscle length discrepency, that can be corrected with some static stretching. From a functional standpoint for anybody looking to enhance performance, you really only need the amount of flexibility needed for your exercise. In some cases, a tighter muscle creates a better performance situation, for example basketball players with tighter hamstrings are generally more explosive and are able to jump higher than those with looser hamstrings. If you are worried from an injury standpoint, you need to figure out if you need to stretch the muscle, create more mobility for the joint (dealing with force couples, etc), or create more stability at that or another joint to create less force migration. A lot of times people think the injury is due to a flexibility standpoint, and it is more of a stability issue.
As for the person who was saying they felt there was no difference between “static stretching” and “dynamic stretching/mobility”, I agree to a very small point you were trying to make, but disagree as a whole. The example you used was with your ankles before squatting. You said that you are able to perform the squats without issues the same after dynamic and static stretching before the exercise, which I understand and agree with. On an anatomy basis, both “static” and “dynamic” stretching are increasing the ROM at the joint, which in your case helped with the squats. Static stretching specifically targets the muscle length, while dynamic mobility specifically targets the mobility and ROM for the joint. Yes, they are inter-related, but there are differences, mainly physiological. With static stretching before exercise, you are risking inhibiting the stretch reflex capabilities and reactability of the muscle fibers and tissues. While with dynamic mobility, you won’t be interfering with the stretch reflex or reactability and with proper selection of mobility drills, may actually cause some activation of structural supporting and assisting musculature.
There are a lot of great articles on this website and others discussing mobility/stability issues and dynamic and static stretching.
Sorry for the long length of the post. Hope it all helps.
-LH